Lewis Hamilton appears on course to claim a sixth Drivers’ Championship after his win in Hungary but the Mercedes star is taking nothing for granted.
There is a month long break before the next race in Belgium at the end of August, and Hamilton believes both Red Bull and Ferrari will come back stronger in the final nine grands prix of the season.
The Briton has won eight of the 12 races so far and sits 62 points clear of his closest challenger, team-mate Valtteri Bottas, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is seven points further back.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel looks to be out of the picture as he is 94 points behind Hamilton, but the two-time defending champion says he still has work to do to secure the title.
“We’ve had this big step up from the Red Bulls and we have a really good battle on our hands and it looks like it’s here to stay. I truly think the second half of the season could be much harder for us,” Hamilton told the BBC.
He added: “Ferrari will come back into play in places like Spa and Monza – they’ll be quick on the straights and there are not a lot of corners. That bodes well for them.
Red Bull have been doing great and it is awesome to see and I hope their performance continues.”
Hamilton is 1.04 to win the Drivers’ Championship outright, Verstappen can be backed at 12.00, Bottas is 41.00 and Vettel is 126.00.